


Maybe Next Year

by clearascountryair



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Dorks in Love, Ember Island (Avatar), Engagement, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, POV Sokka (Avatar), POV Suki (Avatar), Post-Canon, Romance, Sukka Week 2020, depending on what age you consider underage for drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:41:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26275054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clearascountryair/pseuds/clearascountryair
Summary: On an Ember Island getaway, Sokka and Suki accidentally discuss the future and realize they may already be closer to it than they thought.  Hint: They're not pregnant (yet).[For the Sukka Week 2020 Prompt: Marry Me]
Relationships: Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 65





	Maybe Next Year

SOKKA

He blames the beach air. Maybe it’s the warmth or the salt or the sun, but the one thing Sokka is sure about is that it’s one hundred percent not his fault that he’s still in bed at midday.

It’s actually the sun, he decides. Definitely the sun. The way it hits Suki’s face as she smiles at him (he knows it’s at him, even though her eyes are closed), it’s definitely the sun’s fault that it streams through their window so perfectly that he can’t bring himself to get out of bed and see it hit her at any other angle. He leans over and kisses her collarbone.

“I swear to every spirit there is,” she breathes, cracking one eye open, “If you touch me one more time, we will never leave this bed.”

He lays his hand over her stomach and feels the rise and fall of her breathing. “If you think that’s a deterrent, you are so wrong. Besides, I need the exercise.”

She fully blinks her eyes open in the sunlight. “Your sister and the Firelord are somewhere on this property wondering where we are.”

“They know exactly where we are. Maybe they’ll even take our advice.”

Suki opens her mouth to retort, but is cut off by a shout from out the window.

“ZUKO, I’M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!” Katara’s voice is followed by a lot of splashing. A lot. Sokka drops his face to Suki’s chest.

They have been at the royal compound on Ember Island for four days. It was Iroh’s idea that Zuko took a break and, as Sokka and Suki were about to leave the Fire Nation following Suki’s run as head of security, it made sense to make it a send off weekend.

Celebrate Zuko being a good Firelord? Check.

Celebrate Suki not having let anyone kill Zuko for six months? Double check. 

Celebrate Katara accepting the role of Southern Water Tribe Ambassador? Triple check.

And if Sokka got to benefit from it all, well, he wouldn’t complain about that.

Zuko’s home has been refurbished in the year since Sokka’s last visit and, though it still lacked any staff, including a cook (something that Sokka realized he and Zuko would never see eye to eye on), it is still exactly what they all need. Zuko and Katara can do whatever they felt like doing and Sokka and Suki can stay in bed all day without raising too many questions, even if there aren’t many doubts about the amount of sleep they were getting.

“I could go back to sleep,” Suki murmurs, stroking his hair.

“Tired out?”

“Don’t be cocky.”

He has a good response to that. Actually, he has several good responses. But before he can even decide which one to say, a stream of water comes through the open window, soaking the bed and Sokka and Suki with it. Katara and Zuko’s laughter echo on the breeze.

“Katara, that’s not FUCKING FUNNY!”

As he shouts and sputters, Suki pulls on her bathing suit with a speed that far outpaces her claimed exhaustion and, rather than running out into the hallway, she climbs right through the window and onto the roof, still pulling up the straps.

“You’re both dead!” she shouts as she makes her way down to the beach.

There is a lot of shrieking from the shore and two more waves into the window before Sokka gets his own bathing suit on and heads down to join the others (the normal way—down the stairs).

When he gets down to the beach, he can just barely see Suki and Katara splashing water at each other (the latter more successfully than the former) and, though he can’t see Zuko, Sokka can guess that he’s the one responsible for the steam engulfing the two girls. Sokka is a strategist, always has been, and will use this to his advantage. Very quietly, he sneaks into the water, behind his sister. In most circumstances, it’s impossible to sneak up on Katara in the water. But she’s merrily distracted by Suki and Zuko, wherever he is, and, with just a few feet to go, Sokka submerges himself in the sea, grabs Katara’s ankles, and pulls.

“VICTORY!!!!” he bellows as he emerges, running at Suki and jumping into her arms. She barely has time to squeeze his bottom before they’re thrown off-balance by a large wave (organically appearing or Katara-bent, unknown) and knocked into the water. When they come up, the fog has cleared and Zuko is bent over laughing.

“This. Is. The. Ultimate. Betrayal!” Katara says, emphasizing each word with a small wave at her brother’s face.

“No,” Suki retorts. “It’s the ultimate loyalty.”

“I’m his sister!”

“I’m banging him.”

“So?”

“Clearly you’ve never seen her naked,” Sokka adds in Suki’s defense. This earns him splashes from both of them.

They stay out there, laughing and teasing, until the subject of their teasing is the redness of Katara’s skin and they shuffle back inside. When she goes upstairs to bathe, Sokka, Suki and Zuko take stock of the kitchen.

“Are you cooking again tonight, bud?” Sokka asks, taking a bite out of a kiwi.

“Yeah, we should go into town for meat and produce,” Zuko says, sniffing a container of...something that needs to be thrown out, judging by the expression on his face. “You’re not supposed to eat the skin, you know.”

Sokka sticks out his tongue. “Bullshit. You’re just afraid because it’s hairy.”

“Fuzy,” Suki corrects. “Big difference between hairy and fuzzy.”

“Seriously, Sokka. You can’t just eat everything.”

Sokka withholds the urge to accept this challenge, but says, “I bet you there are more fruits where you eat the skin than those you don’t.”

“Bull.”

“Then bet on it, Almight Firelord.”

“Suki’s tiebreaker.”

“Funny if you think that’ll help you. You can’t buy friendship.”

“You can buy loyalty, though, and last I checked, that’s exactly what I pay her for.”

Sokka grins as Suki laughs behind him. She’s sitting on the counter, one leg wrapped around his waist and her fingers combing through his ocean-wet hair.

“How about this,” she says, “The winner’s prize is bragging rights, but I’m the consolation prize.” She bends over to kiss the top of Sokka’s head.

“That’s not fair.”

“I can sleep with Zuko, if you’d like.”

Zuko snorts. “Yeah, I’m confident enough in this to bet Suki on it.”

They continue back and forth for several minutes and, by the time Katara comes downstairs, Suki has crossed the kitchen and now has her arms and legs wrapped around Zuko, who’s doing his best to not look as uncomfortable as he feels while Sokka, taking advantage of his sister’s absence, is using some very specific details to try to bribe Suki back to his side.

“What the fuck?” Katara whispers behind Sokka, alerting them all to her presence.

“Right?” Suki says, straightening her legs to stand on the floor, though still leaning against Zuko. “I can’t decide if I’m disgusted by his behavior or, like, super turned on.”

Sokka takes this as a small victory and smiles, reaching back to put his arm around his sister without looking. 

“No! Do not touch me!”

When Sokka turns, he can see that Katara is an even brighter red than she was before her bath and looks utterly miserable as she stares helplessly at Zuko and Suki.

“I feel so sick, I think I’m dying.” Sokka can tell she’s exaggerating slightly to avoid seeming weak, but, honestly, it just makes him want to hug her (even though he knows that’s the worst possible thing he could do). “Is this normal?”

Suki gives Katara a sympathetic pout that Sokka knows is actually just a really poor attempt to hide a slightly amused smile. “Oh, Katara. What was it you said yesterday?”

“Don’t.”

“What did she say to us, Zuko?”

“Suki, pleeeeeease.”

Zuko shakes his head slowly, not taking his eyes off Katara. “I think it was ‘You can’t go inside yet. We haven’t even been out that long. You’re just weak pale people afraid of the sun.’”

Katara whimpers. “I’ve never been this burnt before. It hurts too much to even heal myself.”

“Take a nap,” Zuko tells her. “We have to go to the market before dinner. I’ll get you something to help in town.”

Behind Zuko, Suki makes a kissy face that only Sokka can see. “That’s so sweet, Zuko,” she says.

To Zuko’s credit, he only blushes slightly as he ushers Katara to the couch.

“Can I change my bet?” Suki whispers, walking over to Sokka.

“Nope.”

“Nobody’s touching her until that burn goes away.”

“Not unless they're trying to help her.” Suki’s eyes go wide at that, but Sokka continues before she can say anything. “You cannot interfere, Suki. That was the whole purpose of the bet.”

“You’re the one who suggested locking them in a room naked together.”

“That was a joke.”

“What was a joke?”

They both look up to see Zuko reentering the kitchen.

“It was dirty, you don’t want to know,” Suki explains without hesitation. “Come on. Let’s get to town so you can get whatever Katara leaves before she dies of misery.”

The three quickly change and head to town, where Zuko does most of the shopping while Sokka and Suki people-watch (and steal the occasional kiss). They are standing outside the small butcher’s shop while Zuko tries haggles for a decent cut without pulling the Firelord card when a young couple, not too much older than Sokka and Suki themselves, come strolling down the road. The man has a small baby strapped to his chest and between the couple marches a little boy, one hand held by each of his parents, singing as he walks down the road. The parents are laughing, uncaring about everyone around them.

“That’s an amazing song,” Sokka whispers.

“Farts making bubbles in the ocean? Are you sure that’s not a Sokka original?”

“Ha. My baby songs were far more crass. Or just involved screaming Katara’s name a million times in a row.”

Passing them, the little boy spots a coin in the dirt and shrieks in excitement. Suki presses her hand over her mouth as she laughs. 

“He’s so cute, I want one.”

Before the words really process, Sokka says, “Ours will be cuter. But maybe next year. Gran-gran will kill me if I don’t marry you first.”

He can practically hear Suki rolling her eyes. “Ugh, fine. But I want at least three.”

“Pft!” Sokka bumps his hip against her. “Spoken like a true only child. “No way. Two or four. Odd numbers are disasters. Kids are assholes. We’ve got to have teams.”

Suki sighs and leans against his side. “I know I should find the idea of you already creating a competition between our children a bit messed up, but I really want, like, ten of them. And honestly, we can just tell Gran-gran we’re married. She doesn’t have to know.”

“Okay, one: I draw the line somewhere before ten. And two: I can’t lie to Gran-gran! She’ll know.”

“And here I was, thinking we could avoid an apothecary run.”

“Oh yeah!” Sokka looks over his shoulder and sees Zuko standing in the doorway to the butcher’s. “Buddy, we gotta go to the apothecary before we head back or Suki might trick me into having a kid.”

Zuko’s good eye widens slightly, but he nods and says, “Too much information, but we have to go anyway for Katara.”

“Fair. Ready?”

“Yeah.”

“Hold on,” Suki says, and climbs onto the step leading up to the shop. When Sokka turns around to look at her, she directs his face back to the street and climbs onto his back, looping her legs around his waist. “Okay, ready.”

Sokka groans, but grabs her legs anyway and starts walking. “You’re the world’s laziest warrior,” he says, though at this point, he wouldn’t let her down if she asked. He likes carrying her too much.

Suki leans forward to kiss the side of his face. “Excuse you,” she tells him. “That’s no way to talk to the mother of your future children.”

“I’ve got one more year to torture you.” He adjusts his hand tickle the back of her knee, stifling his own laugh as she squirms against him.

Yeah, Iroh definitely had the right idea in suggesting this trip.

SUKI

Suki might be a little tipsy.

Okay, maybe a little bit drunk. But just a bit.

She and Zuko are doing the dishes and Sokka is loudly and drunkenly roasting a still miserable Katara. She, of course, epically self-roasts by reminding him that she is already well and truly roasted. Still, that doesn’t stop Sokka from listing every red sea creature he can and listing all comparisons. 

“Where’d you learn to cook?” Suki asks Zuko, trying to ignore Sokka’s progressively worse (and more slurred) jokes. “Is it part of the official Firelord training?”

Zuko smiles and hands her a plate to dry. “My mom taught me.”

“So official Fire _ lady _ training.”

He shakes his head. “She was never Firelady. She disappeared before my gr—before Azulon died.”

“Oh.” Suki can tell that he’s not saying everything, but she’s just ( just ) sober enough to know better than to ask. She lets him continue.

“Uncle Iroh is older and my father...he wasn’t named heir until Azulon died. So my mom never thought she’d be Firelady. She liked to get into the kitchen once in a while.”

“She taught you well. I don’t remember my mom.”

“Yeah, Toph’s the odd one out. Having a mom present in your life? Not allowed in this club.”

Suki laughs even though she knows she really, really shouldn’t. “Do you think you’ll have kids one day?”

Zuko leans against the counter and studies her for a moment. “Maybe. I haven’t thought too much about it.”

She waits for him to return the question, but he doesn’t. So she asks him in earnest (though she doesn’t realize quite how earnestly she means it until she says it), “We’ll be better than our parents, right?”

He squeezes her knee. “You’re going to be a great mom one day, Suki. I...I heard yours and Sokka’s conversation earlier.”

She glances at him as if to say “What conversation?” She knows  _ exactly _ what conversation. And although there’s a little part of her brain that wonders if she should be embarrassed, she smiles and can’t suppress a little giggle. Zuko’s grinning.

“So do I owe you guys a congratulations?”

“Haha. I’m not pregnant, Zuko. I was joking—ish—about wanting one literally now.” She says it quietly enough that Sokka and Katara can’t hear her.

“Yeah, but you guys also said...within the year…” Zuko seems to be the embarrassed one now.

“Oh!” She blushes a bit at that. It’s complicated and she tells him so. “Yes and no? There was never some big commotion or a necklace or hunting me some bigass animal. It was just, like, whenever we talked about the future, it just got bigger and bigger until we realized what that meant. But…” she giggles again and presses her hands to her face, peaking at Zuko through her fingers. “We’ve never said the words before.”

“Well, good to know that every time you come for a stint as head of my security, Sokka will be around. Just promise me you won’t let him make me give a speech or anything at the wedding.”

“Promise.”

“SUKS! SUKI-SUKS!” Sokka half skips over to them, wrapping his arms tight around Suki’s waist and resting his head on her lap. “Hi!”

“How drunk are you?” Zuko asks, knowing he and Suki are drinking the same thing: one day Sokka will have to learn that Zuko can drink him under the table and Sokka needs to stop trying to keep up. But Suki has a feeling that this isn’t the case this time.

“Not as drunk as you think,” she fake whispers. Raising her voice, she asks, “What happened to watching your sister?”

“She wanted to go sit out at the shore. Watch the waves and moon. Nerd.”

“You didn’t want to join her?”

In lieu of a response, he turns his face to press a loud kiss against her bare midriff. 

“Well,” Zuko says loudly, “that’s my cue to leave. I’m going to find Katara.”

Once Zuko leaves, Sokka straightens up and rests his forehead against Suki’s. “Wanna go to bed?”

“Euphemistically or literally?”

“Whatever you want.”

“Okay.” She leans forward, putting all her weight against him and wrapping her legs around him.

They don’t talk as they make their way to their room, they just look at each other (and occasionally kiss each other). When they fall into their bed, they take several long, long minutes to just stare at each other, smiling softly. When she puts her hand on his cheek, he turns to kiss her palm.

“You said maybe next year,” she whispers.

Sokka smiles against her hand and then pulls her close. “Still thinking about babies?”

She shakes her head. “No, actually.” She’s grinning but shaking and knows he can feel it. “After that, though. You said we had to wait a year so that Gran-gran wouldn’t kill you.”

He brushes the hair back from her face. “She’s a bit of a traditionalist.”

“Sokka.”

“Where do you see yourself, Suki? A year from now?”

“Where will you be?” She corrects herself: “Where you’ll be.”

“So why wait? Unless—”

Suki kisses him to cut him off. “No, I’d have said the same thing. We’ve just never—”

“Used the ‘married’ word before?”

Suki nods, biting her lower lip and smiling. “I like it, though.”

“Me, too.” He kisses her. 

“Sokka,” she whispers against his lips. “You are asking me to marry you, right?”

He pushes her so that she rolls onto her back and covers her body with his own. “Actually, I thought I was consenting to you asking me. You’re the one who asked me to impregnate you with the first of our ten children, so....”

Suki swallows whatever he was going to say next. She wants to think about words and their power and how putting that single word, “married,” into her vocabulary suddenly made all her fantasies concrete. But right now, there isn’t much room in her head for anything more than Sokka himself.

Giddy and laughing, they go to bed. Euphemistically.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> This is actually an excerpt+bonus scene from a bigger fic I'm working on where Sokka and Suki feature, but aren't the main focus. So if you were still a bit confused as to why they're on Ember Island with Katara and Zuko but not Toph and Aang, it's because this is midway through chapter three of another story. So if you liked this, stay tuned!


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